Sending Office: Honorable Anthony Gonzalez
Sent By:
Alex.Cisneros@mail.house.gov
Current Signers: Reps. Reschenthaler, Waltz, Chabot, Stivers, Wilson (SC), Zeldin, Kinzinger
Dear Colleague,
We invite you to support our letter to the Department of Treasury to clarify the steps being taken to deter the facilitation of logistics of crude oil shipments to Syria. Our letter also intends to determine how many vessels have been involved in shipping
Iranian oil to Syria since November 2018.
On March 25th, 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Coast Guard, issued an advisory to alert persons globally of U.S. sanctions risks for parties involved in crude oil shipments
to the Government of Syria. It has been reported that the Iran regime has sent secret shipments of oil to Syria, in complete defiance of the alert issued by the U.S. government. On July 5th, 2019, CNN
reported that the Grace 1 tanker loaded up with Iranian oil and turned off its tracking signals to avoid detection. Ultimately, the tanker was captured by the British Royal Marines off the coast of the British territory of Gibraltar in possible violation
of sanctions on Syria.
We are deeply concerned of sustained efforts by Iran to bolster the fragile Assad regime with oil shipments. The illicit network of oil shipments has allowed Hamas and Hezbollah to completely elude sanctions, and it has enabled the complete continuation
of the Assad regime’s crimes against its own people.
Please join us in obtaining more information from Treasury on the illicit shipments of Iranian oil to the Assad regime in Syria. We are looking to close the letter by COB on August 16th.
To sign onto the letter or for more information, please contact Alex Cisneros in Rep. Anthony Gonzalez’s office at
alex.cisneros@mail.house.gov or 202-225-3876